An exclusive interview with two women in Brussels, one who has ties to Savannah, recalling the moments after the bombs went off.

It was supposed to be just another Tuesday heading for work, but that all changed during the morning rush hour.

“I’m only a seven minute drive from the airport so I could hear the explosion go off, but I didn’t really think anything of it,” said Samantha North, former SCAD student.

It wasn’t until North got into her car and turned on the radio that she realized that the airport had just been bombed. The former SCAD student now lives and works in Belgium, but Tuesday was hardly a work day for anyone in the city.

“I’m sitting at work and I’m getting messages from my friends. I have one friend who lives maybe a quarter of a mile from where the explosion went off,” said North.

WTOC spoke to Samantha’s friend, Iris, who says she was on her way to work when she literally drove into the chaos.

“I got out of my car and I could really smell of explosions, the fire and everything. It’s just such a mess and at that point you see white blankets. You think it’s there to cover up the mess but then you realize 24 people died,” said Iris de Vree.

You can tell in her voice, she still hasn’t fully comprehended the magnitude of what she witnessed.

“I don’t think I’ve realized what happened just yet,” said de Vree.

While the city of Brussels is on lock down, increased security measures are also being taken around the country.

In Savannah, they’ve boosted security and are asking travelers to get to the airport two hours early. Questions are being raised about whether security checkpoints should be moved to the entrance of mass transit areas. But after witnessing an attack like this one, some fear there still may be no solution to the violence.

“I think if we make this more secure, they are still going to find a way to hit us,” said de Vree.

She also talked about how things had just started to calm down after the Paris attacks, and just as they started to feel safe in their city again, this happened.